Enemy Mine (1985)

Copyright by the Doomster 2004

Rating (1 to 10) : 5

Summary: Willis Davidge is stranded on a planet with an alien Drak during an intergalactic war between the humans and Draks.

This sci-fi movie has the humans engaged in a war with a reptilian alien race called the Drak. Willis Davidge (Dennis Quaid) is a fighter pilot for the humans and crash lands on a planet while shooting down a Drak spacecraft. Both he and the pilot of the Drak craft, Jeriba (Louis Gossett Jr), are stranded and must work together to survive.

Davidge and Jeriba must cooperate to survive in a harsh environment and in doing so, their mutual hatred of each other dissolves and transforms into mutual respect and understanding. The formula for this movie – two individuals from opposing sides of a conflict having their enmity converting into friendship because of contact and co-habitation – has been done before. The most famous was “Hell In the Pacific” and this one is a variant of the same theme, the same message in a different setting.

The special effects dates it as an 80’s movie, somewhat obsolete by modern standards with no computer-generated graphics or animation. The other alien life forms on the planet look like robotic mock-ups (which they are). Louis Gossett Jr. must have gone through long hours in makeup to prepare his costume. Unfortunately, his diligence in makeup preparation is the only notable thing about his performance; neither his nor Dennis Quaid’s acting are memorable in any way. The acting (or perhaps the lack thereof) made me wonder how Davidge and Jeriba could communicate relatively easily when they first meet each other. A second question - how well would the humans be faring versus the Draks if they still used bullet-firing firearms while the Draks used laser weapons?

There is a message and it is that two individuals from dissimilar societies can get along if they communicate at an interpersonal level. This is something that is apropos for the 1980s when the Cold War was still going and the world was in a bipolar political environment.

In summary, this is an OK movie, a variant of a theme done before but with a sci-fi twist.

Why you should or should not see this movie:

Again, the novelty of this movie is that it’s a “Hell in the Pacific” movie set in outer space. If you don’t find that interesting enough, then this movie might not be for you.

Memorable quotes

Davidge: Jerry ol’ Drak, ha ha! Where would you be without me?

Jeriba: Back home.

Jeriba (to Davidge): You are alone. Within yourself you are alone. That is why you humans have separated your sexes into two separate halfs so that joy of that brief union….